Albany High course offerings

Jennifer McErlean, a parent of two children in the Albany public schools (including one at Albany High), has an interesting letter to the Times Union today correcting the record on who is able to take Advanced Placement or IB courses at Albany High School. (Click on “more” to see the letter.)

Here it is:

B. Jason Brooks should get his facts straight about public education in Albany before using your paper to misinform readers. He criticizes Albany High School for being “highly selective” in its advanced placement and International Baccalaureate programs by requiring applications and interviews for these classes, as well as for the associated fees which make them “inaccessible to many students from families in poverty.”

In fact, at Albany High both AP and IB courses have open enrollment. That is, these courses are open to any student desiring to challenge themselves regardless of previous grades and without any teacher recommendation or interview. With regard to students in poverty, Albany follows most high schools in that any student who qualifies for a free lunch is exempted from paying the fee to take an AP exam. And while there are extra fees for the IB program, parents and the school have jointly raised money to support any student taking IB who asks for help with the associated costs. No request has ever been denied. Brooks is correct that low-income and minority students are underrepresented in these programs, but not for the reasons he suggests.

We have many problems at Albany High, but being “highly selective” and failing to offer academic opportunity are not among them. Brooks’ claim that only Green Tech Charter “offers a free, public, open enrollment, college-prep program” is simply false.

As to the larger question of whether it is sensible to have both public and charter school opportunities — surely any and all programs that increase the number of talented local minority and majority youths who are interested and able to attend college is worthy. I’d ask Mr. Brooks to cease the inaccurate hype and work with those who care about education.